Snow Day
by LokiFenokee
Summary: A remote island's tall mountain has something Maui and Tamatoa have never seen before: snow. A one-shot in the "Future Legend" universe.


Of all the islands Maui and Tamatoa had encountered in their travels together, this one held what was, by far, the strangest sight yet. It was also the most remote of all the islands they had come across.

The whole journey had been spurred by a dare. They had been resting up between trips on a remote little island, idling time away as usual, when an argument had broken out. Maui couldn't even remember what it was about, but they were so often at odds these days that it could have been anything. Tamatoa had grown increasingly acrimonious since they had quarreled over that golden war club years back and Maui's temper had grown thinner as well. The crab was also taller than him by nearly half now with an aggression to match, which made bickering with the crab a dicey prospect at times.

This time, however, the argument fizzled into something more good natured and morphed into a friendly challenge instead. In the end, they ended up sailing off, reasonably cheerful, into an unknown quadrant of the ocean aboard their large, double-hulled canoe in search of some strange island to the northeast.

It was cramped on the boat these days, Maui noted again with increasing worry. Pretty soon, Tamatoa was going to outgrow this boat too. How much longer could they do this? He pushed the thought out of his mind, though. He couldn't think about that now, he'd worry about it later.

After weeks at sea on without any sign of land, though, Maui was about to give up and turn around. It was only then that they finally spotted land on the horizon, rising out of the sea as if by magic in the pale pre-dawn light. The island that appeared before them was broad with wide, sloping beaches of dark, black sand. Despite the gentle shoreline, the island was dominated by a massively tall mountain with broad slopes, swelling so high that that the peak seemed fully concealed amid wispy clouds.

It wasn't until they drew closer to the isle that it became clear that the white smudge at the top of the peak was not actually clouds, but some other unknown curiosity. It was as if the entire peak of the mountain was bare and covered in gleaming white stone, except that stone did not usually trail down the sides of a peak quite like this. Even Tamatoa, who was typically an bottomless well of useless trivia and obscure details, was at a loss when it came to explaining this strange phenomenon.

They made landfall on one of the dark, coarse beaches in the morning sun and together they hauled the heavy canoe out of the water. A mild breeze rustled the palm trees that extended down the mountain and to the beach, carrying with it a cool, damp scent from beyond the forest. Standing in Tamatoa's shadow, Maui saw his friend's antennae twitch, flicking into the gentle wind. There was a quizzical look on the crab's face, as if he was uncertain about whatever he was sensing in the air.

"Well?" Maui prompted expectantly, waiting for a verdict.

Tamatoa hesitated, head tilted slightly. "Not sure-" he said, trailing off.

Maui grinned, a sense of adventure settling upon him. "Well, let's go find out!" Without waiting for a reply, he started into the forest and up the side of the mountain.

Tamatoa, whose curiosity was clearly just as piqued, needed no further prompting and quickly followed him into the trees.

It took the better part of the morning to ascend, even traveling as swiftly as they typically did through the gentle slopes of the hulking mountain. The trees had thinned out as they progressed, leaving only bare black lava rock and low, scraggly bushes. The air grew steadily cooler as they climbed higher still, prompting Maui to shiver and wish for more than a ragged, weatherbeaten tapa cloth and a handful of ti leaves around his waist.

The sun was high overhead in the peak of afternoon, but the air was nevertheless stiffly cold now. Maui was nearly ready to call this whole expedition off and suggest they return to the nice warm beach. He was busy trying to think of a way to back out without losing face, not really paying attention to where he was going, when he suddenly ran smack into something. He let out a surprised grunt and stepped back.

He had collided with Tamatoa. The crab had stopped dead in his tracks, staring ahead with an enraptured look on his face.

Maui peered around his friend to see what had caught his attention. What could possibly be so-

Oh. Oh, wow.

For a moment, Maui forgot all about the bitter cold and just stared at the wide field of white extending in all directions ahead of them. It glittered in the strong light like a blanket of sparkling sea foam, which explained the crab's somewhat glassy-eyed gaze. The air had a peculiar wet smell, not so different from the smell of fresh water but unlike anything else he'd ever encountered.

Snow was not something that either of them had ever seen or even heard of before, so they had no context for it. Thus, for a long moment, they both just stared together in silent wonder at this weird sight. It was Tamatoa who made the first move to get closer, however. The crab approached the blanket of white eagerly, drawn as ever to anything remotely sparkly. Maui followed quickly along, just as interested.

The chilly ground was damp here on the edges of the snowfield, the black rocks gleaming wetly in the afternoon light and little rivulets of water trickling down beneath Maui's feet. Scattered piles of fluffy snow were everywhere, melting slowly in the sun. Maui was just reaching down to pick up a handful when he was startled by a joyous whoop from Tamatoa.

Maui looked up in surprise to see the giant crab already much farther up the hillside, frolicking in snow deep enough to nearly reach the curl of his tail under his body. There was an expression of utter delight on the crab's face as he kicked up glistening arcs of snow into the air. Maui couldn't help but laugh at the sight. True, their friendship had become more strained in recent years, but there were still rare times that it seemed nothing had changed-times like this when it was easy to forget their differences. Well, Maui would enjoy it while he could.

Never one to be outdone or left behind when there was fun to be had, Maui hurried up the slope to join his friend, blithely ignoring how cold his feet became as they sunk into the fluffy snow. He was a demigod, he could take it. Despite the chill, he had to admit that there was something ridiculously entertaining about the stuff. He stopped to grab a couple handfuls, tossing them into the air and watching them break apart into little flakes. Then an idea struck him and he grinned, an impish light in his eyes. Gathering up another generous handful of snow, he scrunched it down to a nicely packed ball. Satisfied with his work, he looked up the slope to where Tamatoa was amusing himself, shoving big piles of snow into vaguely defined shapes. The crab was paying no attention at all, completely absorbed in whatever he was creating.

Trying not to laugh and give himself away, Maui took aim and fired the snowball off with pinpoint accuracy. It flew straight and true, then shattered as it impacted dead center on the back of the crab's head. Tamatoa's eyes whipped around with a suddenly fierce glare, but it quickly faded to something more mirthful and he turned with a smirk to face Maui. "Oh, is that how it is then?"

Maui began to laugh again and ducked to scoop up more snow. The laughter felt good, a refreshing break from the thin line of tension that had underscored their friendship of late. He hurried to gather up more snow, as Tamatoa was quickly headed down the steep slope towards him with a mischievous look of his own-clearly bent on some sort of payback.

Whatever that payback was, though, Maui didn't get to find out. Just as he had formed up a new snowball, he looked up to see the giant crab's steps falter. He must have hit a slick patch of ice under the snow, something that crustacean legs were clearly not designed to traverse. With a startled yelp, Tamatoa lost his footing and fell gracelessly into the snow. Maui, already laughing, descended further into uncontrollable giggles.

His snickering turned to a yelp of his own, however, when he realized the crab was sliding down towards him and fast. Maui tried to get out of the way, but it was far too late for that and the crab crashed into him. Together they tumbled down the snowy slope in a tangled mess.

Despite it all, Maui was pretty sure Tamatoa was laughing the whole way down. It had been years since he heard the crab laugh so wholeheartedly.

The terrain evened out as they careened towards the edge of the snowfield, slowing their descent until they finally skidded to an abrupt, jarring halt just at the edge of the smoothly weathered lava rocks. Maui was flung to the side, carried by his momentum, and tumbled to a stop a short distance away. He was on his feet in an instant, no worse for the wear and dusting himself off. He couldn't help but chuckle at their undignified and wild descent down the hillside.

Tamatoa, however, had stopped laughing. The enormous crab had come to a stop as well, but had ended up flipped over on his back somehow. His numerous legs kicked in the air as he tried to right himself without success. After several fruitless attempts to rock himself back over, his limbs went limp and he let out a dramatic huff. "Hey," he called out to Maui, straining to see him from his position, "how about a little help here!"

Maui smirked, seizing the opportunity to mess with his friend a bit, and jumped up to stand on the crab's exposed underside.

"Oof! That is _not_ helping," Tamatoa said archly, an annoyed look creeping into his eyes.

Maui shot him a cheeky grin. "You know, you used to be able to get back up yourself," he teased.

"And you used to not smell like a hog's hind end," Tamatoa fired back, though without rancor. "Now help me up!"

Maui laughed, brushing off the jibe. Rather than make any move to climb off the stranded crab, he instead flopped down to sit comfortably on him.

"That is the _opposite_ of helping," Tamatoa pointed out again.

"Hey, you're a big crab. Surely you can get back up on your own," Maui teased again, merciless but lighthearted.

Tamatoa snorted. "The fact that I am a _big crab_ is exactly why I am stuck here!" He wiggled his legs. "C'mon, man."

"Well, I dunno." Maui drawled. "What's the magic word?"

"Help me up or I'll snip your hair off," the crab deadpanned.

Maui laughed again. "Nah, you won't." Then he grinned. "You really can't get up, can you?"

The exasperated look his friend gave him said it all.

"Alright, alright," Maui capitulated with a smirk. He stood up and hopped lightly back to the ground. "You know, you're going to be in real trouble if this happens while I'm not around," he quipped.

Tamatoa huffed. "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with you whether I like it or not. So, I'm not worried about it."

Maui just grinned. "Okay, here we go." Bracing his shoulders under the edge of Tamatoa's shell, he summoned up his strength and gave the monstrous crustacean a boost up. Tamatoa rocked his weight in tandem with the push and, by their combined efforts, was flipped upright. He landed back on his feet with a heavy thump, reverberating through the rocks they stood on.

Maui shot him a teasing look. "You're getting heavy. What have you been eating?" he said. Without waiting for an answer, he provided his own punchline. "Oh yeah, _anything._ "

"Oh, ha ha," Tamatoa replied dryly. He took a moment to brush the dirt off himself and pick up a few glittery trinkets that had fallen from his sparsely decorated shell in the fall.

A glint of mischief gleamed in the crab's eyes now, though. He looked back up the sparkling white slope, where their unplanned slide had carved a long gash in the snow from high up the mountainside. Then he turned his eyes back to Maui and grinned widely, with a playfulness Maui hadn't seen in ages. "Let's do it again!"

Maui couldn't help but grin in return. Although something told him these good times wouldn't last forever, he would just have to enjoy them while he could.

"Race you to the top!" he challenged with a laugh, then darted up the mountain with Tamatoa hot on his heels.


End file.
